The Unforgivable
by natabee
Summary: A story of pain, betrayal, solitude, and an unforgivable sin.
1. Sen Tatsuki

_This is my first fanfiction! Hurray! *sparkle sparkle*  
_

_I made it rated M for later on in the story in case you were wondering why..._

_Heh, anyways, I hope you like it ^^_

_Review if you want :3_

_

* * *

_

The blinds on the window snapped open in Sen's room. Sunlight hit her eyes, wakening her.

Groaning loudly, she pulled the covers over her head and attempted to escape the bright light filtering through her eyelids. She gasped when her mom pulled the pillow out from under her head.

Sen shut her eyes tighter and pulled the blankets into a cocoon around her sleep-deprived body.

"Sen, sweetie if you don't get up now, you'll be late."

Her mom's tired voice was muffled from above the covers. Waking up Sen in the morning was a pain that ended up with her screaming at the top of her lungs and the stubborn tween ignoring her cautions and threats of her being late and getting in trouble.

What a life.

Even though her warm bed made her think otherwise, Sen slowly slid from the inviting heat and sat up waiting for her mom to start yelling at her.

When she said nothing, she peered up at her mom's pale expression through her bangs. Her face was so thin with dark bags under her eyes. She was the color of death itself; pale and sickly. Sen was just so damn tired of her mom looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders; tired of all the burdens of life crushing the pretty woman's features beyond her age into wrinkles. So tired of doing nothing about it, when she knew she should be the one to help her loving mom, when she had been nothing but a warm and supportive shoulder to cry on when she needed it. It was what she owed her mother; to take away the pain.

_Especially since she was the cause of it._

"I'm up, I'm up…" she managed before standing and making her way to the bathroom.

* * *

Sen was alone.

_Not that she minded it_, she though bitterly, _in fact, she _preferred_ it that way_.

Friends were just more people to worry about, to hurt.

It was better this way.

She found herself thinking what it might be like to have at least one friend. How selfish it would be, to have some pleasure in life, when the only thing she had ever caused was pain.

_So much pain_.

She wasn't disserving of a friend, nor did she want one, she told herself.

It was more of a reminder she realized now as she walked, loathing the smiles of young girls face's as they gossiped and played with their friends. When had that changed?

No. She wasn't allowed to think like this, concluding her stray thoughts as she touched the _Hitai-ate _displayed on her forehead.

_She would not let herself_.

* * *

Sasuke was in deep thought as he approached the academy.

Those eyes haunting and mocking him with each weak step, a far cry from his brother's confident and powerful stride.

That night he was crying, he felt powerless as he lay there starring into those cold and unforgiving eyes that burned holes through his very being.

Sasuke clenched his fists and scowled as he remembered his brother's words.

_I will allow you to live._

But what was the point in living if he was so dead inside?

Allowing him to live was a punishment for a small 12 year-old boy with the burden of restoring his entire clan.

_He could easily end it_, Sasuke thought darkly as he ghosted down the hallway to his classroom.

Would people really notice his absence? Would they even care if he cease to exist on this unforgiving planet?

Would he care?

"SASUKE-KUNNN!"

The annoying voice shook Sasuke from his suicidal thoughts.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just end it.

"Hey! Sasuke! Over here!" Sakura's voice echoed down the hallway.

Sasuke glared at her annoying smile and walked right past her, not caring that her happy expression fell at his lack of acknowledgment.

He smirked as he thought of the pained expression on her face as she stared at his lifeless body. He almost smiled at the thought of all those annoying girls crying at his funeral, the clueless idiots thinking they ever had a chance and that they had lost something. Yes, he almost smiled at that thought.

Almost.

But, alas, if he died his brother would continue to live. He was the only one who could kill his brother. It was his one sole purpose to keep on going; to face each new day.

So he kept on living.

* * *

Sen walked in the classroom to hear girls bitching over something probably just as annoying as their voices.

She glanced at the time: 9:00 am. They were already driving her insane and the day had yet to begin. Why was her life a living hell?

"No, I want to sit next to Sasuke!"

"I was here first!"

"Yeah? Well, I was here before _both_ of you!"

_They were so airheaded. _

Sen clenched her teeth and calmly slipped past the useless quarrel. If they were going to ruin her day before it even began, she might as well have some fun messing with them. She could at least allow herself to have a little fun.

* * *

The girl's face was expressionless as she slid into the seat next to him.

Sasuke gave her a sideways just as equally passive glance as the annoying bickering subsided.

She turned her head to face him and gave a small smiled before she motioned down to her hand.

He barley contained a smirk as her fingers counted down from 5…4...3…2…

"Hey!"

The girl bit her lip, obviously trying hard not to laugh at her preciseness when the first burst of protest erupted.

* * *

"I'M SITTING THERE!" A girl with brown pigtails shouted while slamming her hadns onto the desk.

Sen turned her head and slowly faced the girl. _If looks could kill_, Sen thought. She smirked, only making the steaming irritation on the nuisance's face grow.

"Well, you're obviously clueless," Sen's eyes narrowed. "because I'm obviously sitting here. Maybe you should get your eyes checked, _baka_."

That shut her up.

Sen watched the girl's face with pleasure as it turned from red to blue, trying to come up with a clever response. In obvious defeat, she stormed out of the room.

Probably going to cry.

Tch.

She wondered what all of these girls saw in Sasuke anyways. He wasn't so great. Sure, he was hot as hell, but he severely lacked a personality. Isn't that half of attraction? Personality? Sasuke treated these girls like dirt every day of their lives and they still came crawling back for more. She just didn't understand why.

Sen felt Sasuke stiffen almost unnoticeably in his seat next to her. She shifted her glare towards the unmistakable new presence. Her scowl deepened.

_Oh great._

_

* * *

_

Naruto was crouched defensively on the desk in front of Sasuke.

He wondered what was so great about the 'amazing' Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke looked up with the infamous Uchiha glare across his stupid face.

Naruto glared back into those annoyingly black eyes that he hated. Hell, he hated the person they belonged to.

"Naruto! Get away from Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto looked towards the raging girl. "Sakura…" Naruto grumbled under his breath.

He turned back towards Sasuke to further glare at the Uchiha bastard.

That was a mistake.

* * *

"Wha…" Sakura stammered.

Some idiot had bumped Naruto into Sasuke causing the two to, uh, lock-lips. Sasuke and the clown both pulled away gagging and couching in disgust at what had just happened.

She couldn't believe it…SHE was supposed to be Sasuke's first kiss! Naruto was going to pay.

* * *

Iruka-sensei was at the front of the class trying to contain his laughter at the obviously hurting Naruto sulking with two black eyes and a bloody lip. His the corners of his lips pulled into a small smile.

_Damn_, he thought, _girls are_ _harsh_.

"Quiet down everyone!" Iruka waited until the talking died down and all eyes were on him.

"Congratulations, you have all passed the academy and are now Genin! You should all feel very proud of yourselves; you worked hard to get here!

"I will now assign each of you into squads of three and one squad with four, since we have an un-even number. Those squads will be lead by a Junín." He paused, curious to his former student's reactions.

When he was pleased with the excited chatter between peers he continued, "Alright, alright, settle down! I will now read off the squads."

* * *

"Squad seven," Sasuke's former sensei started, "will be Uzamaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke,"

_Great._

"… and Tatsuki Sen."

The girl next to him stiffened. _Interesting_, Sasuke intrigued, _so her name is Sen._

"Haaa!" Sakura shouted with glee.

_She would be in his group. Damn. The fates really were unforgivable. That will only slow-_

"WHAT!" Naruto leaped up, causing his chair to fall back with a loud metallic crash. "Iruka-sensei, why does a super-ninja like me have to be with an idiot like Sasuke?" Naruto seethed, interrupting Sasuke's silent protest.

Iruka sighed. "Naruto, you had the worst test scores, while Sasuke had the best. We tried to even out everything by putting the best student with the worst student."

Sasuke smirked and quietly spat, "Just try not to get in my way, loser."

Naruto looked appalled as the class-mostly the girls-laughed at his comment.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"Hard of hearing?"

"ARRRGH! SASUKE! I'M GONNA KILL—"

"NARUTO! SIT DOWN!" Sakura interrupted. For once, Sasuke was glad for her usually annoying interruptions. All this shouting was giving him a headache.

He glanced at Sen who had still said nothing. Her expression was blank, and for once Uchiha Sasuke felt what those idiots felt when they looked at him for some kind of answer, but got a white wall.

He was going to figure this girl out.


	2. Sensei

_Yay! Here's another chapter! Thank you so much to the following people for reviewing, adding my story to their alerts, and/or adding my story to their favorites!:_

_Shifuni (first reviewer everrrr!)  
_

_bloodplus103_

_Midnighter67_

_midnight star237_

_Thank you! :)_

_Anyways...well, here it is! :D_

* * *

Sen was chewing her nails as Squad Seven was waiting for their new sensei. So far, he was 30 minutes late and everyone else had already met and left on, no doubt, awesome ninja missions.

Saying Sen was annoyed was an understatement. She was absolutely livid.

And only a fraction of the reason was that the Junin was late.

It was her teammates. She hated all of them with a passion.

Especially that fan girl Sakura.

Sen peered down and the bleeding stubs she called her nails. Biting her nails really was a horrible habit.

She glanced at the time and wondered if it wasn't too late to just leave and go home. No one would notice. Sakura was busy obsessing over Sasuke, and he passively stared ahead with his head propped on his folded hands, while Naruto was sprawled out on his floor impatiently groaning every five seconds. She hated them all.

_Tap tap tap_

Sen glared towards the offending noise. Sakura had started tapping an overly manicured finger on her desk. With each careful tap, Sen hated her even more. She fiercely bit into her pinky and felt a warm wet stream spill down her cheek. She wanted to just disappear. Somewhat for the sake of not maiming her nails.

As soon as Sen thought she couldn't go on living knowing Sakura was still alive, Naruto let out an exasperated grunt and jumped up.

"Aghh! Where the hell is he?"

"Everyone has already left with their teachers and we're still here waiting!" Sakura added.

"Hn." Typical Sasuke.

Sakura let out a squeal and ran over to sit next to him.

"I'm glad you agree, Sasuke-kun!"

Sen rolled her eyes at Saskura's compulsive need to respond to anything Sasuke said or grunted. She was so clueless it was almost hard not to feel sorry for her.

"Yeah, well he's gonna be sorry for ever delaying Naruto Uzamaki's ninja training once I become Hokage!" Naruto declared.

He raced over to the chalkboard and grabbed an eraser.

"Naruto, what are you…" Sakura started. Naruto gave her a devious look.

"Well, I guess I thought, 'why wait till I'm Hokage?'" He paused for effect. "...when I can teach him a lesson right now!"

Sakura gave him a quizzical look.

He pulled a small stool over to the door and opened it a crack. He then stepped on to the stool, wobbled a bit, then placed the eraser on the top and smugly stated, "This guy has some nerve to show up late, and he's gonna pay for making me wait, believe it!" This was indeed a destined-to-fail plan.

"Naruto! Don't do that, you're going to get us all in trouble." Sakura looked to Sasuke for backup. When he said nothing, Sen sighed and spoke at last.

"Do you really think he's going to fall for that? This guy's a Junín, an elite ninja." Her voice echoed around the room.

Everyone stared at her. She suddenly felt very out of place. It just didn't sound right, her backing up Sakura. It didn't feel right to actually engage in a conversation with complete strangers. Strangers that she absolutely hated, at that. She should have just kept quiet.

"Y-yeah N-naruto." Sakura stuttered awkwardly, before clearing her throat and straightening her posture, "Do you really think he will fall for that?" She finished with a more confident tone.

Suddenly they heard footsteps drawing nearer. Naruto whispered excitedly, "We'll just have to find out!"

* * *

_Had Sen really just backed me up_? Sakura asked herself.

Sen had never even spoken to her before, unless if you count rude comments here and there and the occasional grunt not directed at anyone in particular.

It just felt out of place.

"Y-yeah, N-naruto," _Why was she so lame! She really just stuttered!_ Sakura cleared her throat and straightened awkwardly before continuing with some regained confidence. "Do you really think He will fall for that?"

Sakura's ear twitched when she heard footsteps drawing nearer.

"We'll just have to find out!" Naruto whispered excitedly. Typical Naruto, always having to get the last word.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched the eraser fall with a chalky thud on the Junín's spiky gray hair.

_Did he seriously fall for that? Is this guy really a Junín? _

Sasuke took this moment, while everyone was distracted, to steal a glance at Sen. She had barely moved and didn't seem even remotely interested. But her clenched fists told a different story. She was just as scared of the nameless Junín as he and the idiots were.

"Sensei, I'm so sorry. We tried to tell Naruto not to do it but he wouldn't listen! I would never do something like that!" Sakura butt-kissed too much.

Gray-head bent over and picked up the eraser that had shamelessly and abruptly taken away his coolness factor.

"Huh." The mask on Gray-head's mouth moved slightly with his lips when he spoke.

"And my first impression of you all," he paused as he thought with a finger theatrically placed on his hidden lips, "is you're all a bunch of idiots."

Squad Seven's face fell.

Coolness factor: Regained.

* * *

Sen sat with her team on a roof somewhere in Konoha. Kakashi-sensei (he had mentioned his name when he vaguely told them about himself) sat looking at his students with bored eyes. Sen had suffered through each of her teammates babbling about themselves one at a time about what they liked, hated, and planned for the future. She had particularly enjoyed listening to Sakura make a fool of herself as each question was answered with a giggle and a glance at Sasuke. She especially found it funny when Sakura had declared her hatred for Naruto, making the blonde's face fall in disappointment.

Sasuke had informed his team, in an overly dramatic way she might add, that he didn't like anything in particular and wanted to destroy "a certain someone." Whatever that meant. Although Sen could definitely relate to the desire to kill someone she hated. There weren't many people she could tolerate.

Naruto had basically told them about his ramen obsession and his determination to become Hokage- two things that everyone already knew.

And now it was her turn to tell her teammates about herself, which she had no intension of doing.

"And you?" Kakashi-sensei asked her with fake interest.

Sen was silent as everyone waited for answers she would not give.

Seconds turned to minutes as she just kept staring straight ahead with a bored expression plastered on her pretty face. She was waiting for them to crack and just get on with the mission. Were introductions really necessary? After all, she wanted to kill them all. And if that time ever really came, Sen didn't want them to know a thing about her when she made her move. If they knew anything, they could use it against her.

It was Kakashi that finally broke the silence.

"Ok then…" Kakashi chuckled a little and awkwardly scratched his head. He continued, "You're each…unique…" He paused again.

Sen could practically feel Squad Seven, minus herself of course, choking on the awkward atmosphere she had created with only mere silence. But Sen, however, thrived on it. She inwardly smirked. Sometimes Sen allowed herself to have way too much fun.

"We'll have our first mission tomorrow." Kakashi changed the subject.

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto questioned while bringing a hand to his face in a failed attempt to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight.

"It's a task that the five of us will do together."

"What? What is it? Tell us!"

Kakashi loved pauses. "It's a survival exercise."

Sen was confused. Weren't they supposed to have a real mission and not just more practice? What did he think they had been doing at the academy, painting butterflies?

"But that's what we've been doing at the academy!" Sakura's annoying voice spoke her thoughts. Sen thought of unholy things.

"This isn't like what you did at the academy."

"Then what kind of training is it?" Naruto demanded.

Kakashi let out a sinister chuckle that sent waves of terror down Sen's spine and earned him three confused glances.

"Wait a minute, that was a normal question. What's so funny?" And although Sen would never admit to it, she agreed with Sakura. What was with this guy?

Kakashi finished his dark chuckle and stated vaguely, "Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it." Sen was starting to hate him already.

"Huh?" Naruto took the bait like a blind fool.

Kakashi smirked. "Of the 27 graduates that just came here, 9 will actually be accepted as Genin. The other 19 will be removed and sent back to the academy. In other words, this exercise is pass or fail and the chance that you'll fail is 66%."

Sakura let out the gasp Sen had held in.

"See? I told you, you wouldn't like it."

_We have a winner_, thought Sen. Kakashi-sensei was now the first on her list to kill. Let the trumpets sound, please.

"But we worked hard to get here, believe it! What was that test for at the academy?"

"Oh that. That was just to select candidates that might become Genin…or not."

"WHAT?" Naruto was just full of questions today.

"Yep, so that's how it is. I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the training ground at five a.m. and bring your ninja gear."

Sen could practically hear the silent declarations of her not-so-fellow teammates that they weren't going to be the one to be sent back to the academy. She wasn't worried about herself, though. She was more worried about her teammates' safety if she became desperate and had to use the jutsu that had cause others only blinding pain. That one jutsu that she vowed to never use again. But under the circumstances… she might be forced to use it after all. If Kakashi-sensei was the person standing between Sen and her future as a ninja…hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. She almost felt sorry for him.

"That's all, you're dismissed. Oh, and by the way, don't eat breakfast tomorrow. Or you'll puke." Nope. Hesitation: gone. He would get what he deserved.

Tch.

And as if she would skip breakfast.

Sen refused to play his game.


	3. Bells of Failure

_HEY! Sorry it took me so long, I had a a lot of stuff I needed to work out in the story:) But it's here now! :DD_

_A humongous thanks to_ werewolfwithaheart_ and _Shifuni _for reviewing and/or adding my story on their alerts!_

_For the rest of you, please review! It makes my day! :D_

_I realize I haven't done this yet, so here' my disclaimer:_

_I don't own Naruto, but I do own my character, Sen Tatsuki and her life story. _

_So yep! Here's a longer chapter, enjoy! :P  
_

* * *

"_St-stay away from me!" Sen squeaked into the shadows._

_There was and eerily familiar cackle that she felt all the way through her bones. She backed up a little and tripped over a loose floorboard, catching herself on the palms of her hands._

_The man in the shadows moved forward a little, his face catching the silvery moonlight that filtered in from the window above. His…no, its...familiar face didn't even look the same anymore. Its eyes were no longer filled with love when they stared into Sen's own similar pair. That love was now locked away in the darkness that had taken over. _

_As its maniacal grin widened, Sen realized that the key to the lock had been thrown away a long time ago, and there would be no retrieval of it. _

_Her father raised a bloody kunai._

_

* * *

_

Sen woke up screaming.

Shooting up, she gasped and held her pounding heart. It was beating so hard she was sure it would fly right out of her chest.

She sighed, relieved, when no one was in her room.

She was alone.

If only she could comfort herself in saying that had been just a dream. It was a memory that she had buried away deep inside her tortured thoughts. How cruel of them to let it escape.

It was just like she remembered it, except the kunai in her father's hand wasn't bloody when he first had raised it.

Sen wiped her moist head and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

She stood up—too fast—and spots exploded in front of her face.

Sen waited for them to disappear and the nausea to pass before she turned and squinted at the tiny red digital numbers.

4:23 a.m.

She cursed her internal clock for waking her up seven precious minutes before her alarm. She switched off the alarm before it could go off, and shifted through the darkness with her arms stretched in case she bumped into anything. Shivering from the cold stale air around her, she patted the wall until she felt the small rectangular light switch and flipped on the lights.

Light exploded in an instant, scaring the darkness, and the rest of her fear, away.

Sen's room was just like she left it when she fell asleep. No blood splatters on the floor. Not that Sen had expected there to be…but she found herself checking just in case.

Her stomach grumbled.

Time for breakfast.

* * *

The cold morning air swirled around Sasuke as he rubbed his grumbling stomach and tried to walk as steadily as possible up the hill.

_Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to follow orders and skip breakfast._

Yawning lightly, he noted the stale stillness of the morning. It was so peaceful and quiet. Serene.

_Enjoy it while it lasts, _he told himself.

For soon, all of this calm serenity would be shattered by his teammates' obnoxious chatter.

He gripped the strap of his bag and slung it over his left shoulder, giving his right a break. Whoever the genius was that decided to use steel to make ninja weapons should have taken to account that they would be _extremely heavy._

Sighing, he adjusted the scratched buckle on the strap of his bag and continued trudging up the hill to the training ground where Gray-head—er, Kakashi-sensei— instructed them to meet.

As soon as he saw two forms—one with banana and one with PeptoBismol-colored hair— he knew today was really gonna suck. He dreaded the outcome.

Sakura looked up from her nails upon noticing his footsteps and squealed loudly.

"HI SASU—OUCH!" Sakura was furiously rubbing her head as Sasuke noticed another form with long dark hair move around her without missing a step.

It was Sen.

Sakura straightened and challenged, "Hey! What was that for?"

Sen didn't even acknowledge her as she calmly sat down and stretched her arms, as if to show she didn't give a shit about what Sakura said.

Sasuke joined the group.

"Hello, Earth to Sen! I'm talking to you—" Sen turned around with murderous eyes that stopped Sakura in mid-sentence.

Sen turned back around, took out a kunai knife and ran her thumb over its blade. When no blood was drawn she made a face.

"S-sen?"

Sakura barley dogged the kunai thrown at her head. Sen stood up and stalked threateningly over to Sakura's frozen from and grabbed her by the collar.

"Shut the fuck up." Her voice was menacing and icy. "Your voice is annoying me."

Sakura's mouth hung open. Then, with an annoyed scoff, Sen released her and sat back down, her back to a frozen Sakura. She pulled out another kunai knife from her bag and began sharpening it on a rock.

Sasuke was speechless. And for once, so was Sakura.

After a few painful seconds of silence, Sen turned back around to look at the still gaping Sakura and added, "You should really close your mouth. Not only does it make you look like a fish, your face might freeze that way." She smirked at Sakura's wide eyes before spitting, "Not that you would look much different."

* * *

The next few hours were spent in silence as Squad Seven watched the sun slowly make its appearance.

Kakashi was late.

Sakura had made a point to sit as far away from Sen as humanly possible without it being obvious.

Not that Sen minded it.

Hey, the farther from her Sakura sat, the less she'd have to move herself.

Ever since Sen had made it known that she hated Sakura with a passion, not even Naruto let loose his usual routine string of impatient groans every five seconds.

He hadn't even objected when she basically threatened his crush's life!

Sen twirled the freshly sharpened kunai and everyone flinched. This was just a little too much fun for her.

She smirked and added it to the neat pile of sharpened various weapons that had slowly built up over the hours.

Sen sighed when she realized her word choice. Hours. Where was Kakashi?

They had literally watched the sun rise and he still hadn't bothered to show. She didn't mind too much, as interesting as that sounds, because it had given her some time to think and sharpen her butter knife- dull knives.

And scare the shit out of Sakura and the other two, thereby guaranteeing they would stay away from her.

Even so, it took everyone ounce of self control not to hurtle them all at Kakashi's head when he finally showed up in a puff of smoke.

"Sorry I'm late," the Junín lied, "I'm afraid a black cat crossed my path and I had to go the long way."

Lies lies lies.

"YOU LIAR!" Sakrua and Naruto shouted boldly.

Sen rolled her eyes and scooped up her weapons with a loud clank that made everyone jump again. She turned away and let them fall loudly into her backpack to hide the giggle that was impossible to hold in.

"You're going to need those." Kakashi stated flatly.

Squad Seven gave him a confused glance except Sen, who turned and shot him a look that said, _Don't you think I know that? _

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, let's get started." He pulled a large timer out of his bag and set it on a tree stump that had been recently cleared to make more room for Shinobi to train.

"It's set for noon." Squad Seven heard the soft jingling of bells and became even more confused.

"Your assignment is very simple: take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." Kakashi gave the bells a shake like they needed to know what he was talking about. This made Sen even more irritated.

"But, if you can't get one by noon, you go without lunch." Naruto gave a yelp of protest. "You'll be tied to those posts and watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."

Realization hit Sen. So that's why he wanted them to skip breakfast, to make it harder. Good thing she hadn't followed his directions. She looked at her teammates. Sen couldn't believe it. Their furious expressions gave away that they had all played this guy's game. She was surrounded by idiots.

"Wait a minute, there's four of us. How come there are only three bells?" Was the answer really not clear to Sakura? Now they would be pitted against each other to get the bells. And at least one of them, _please let it be Sakura_, would end up failing the test and sent back to the academy.

It was genius.

Sen admired Kakashi for that.

"Well, now one of you will end up tied to a post and disqualified for failing to complete the mission." Kakashi shook the bells again. "That one goes back to the academy." Just as Sen predicted. "Then again, all four of you could flunk out too.

"You can use any weapons. Yes, Sen, that is why I said you would need them." So much for admiration. Sen would not take that.

"That's why I brought them." Sen snapped while taking out a shuriken and spinning it on her finger.

"Good. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to get one of these bells." Kakashi attached the bells to his pants.

Sakura looked at Sen with worried eyes. "But, sensei, those weapons are too dangerous!" She looked at Kakashi with pleading eyes. Sen smiled evilly as this morning's events played in her head.

_Good._ Sen thought. _She shouldn't forget._

Naruto laughed. "Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser!"

Kakashi didn't even flinch at the insult. "Class clowns are usually the weakest. You can safely ignore them." Naruto look appalled. "Lowest scores. Losers." Naruto's face turned red. Sen smirked.

"All right. When I say start, you can begin."

Naruto grabbed a Kunai and lunged toward Kakashi. He grabbed Naruto's hand and painfully twisted it around so the weapon was pointed at his head instead of himself.

Kakashi was fast.

"Don't be in such a hurry." The dust that had stirred with Kakashi's light speed movements slowly settled back to the ground. "I didn't say start yet."

Extremely fast indeed.

Team Seven backed up while Naruto struggled without success to free himself from Kakashi's iron hold.

Kakashi pushed Naruto to the ground and continued talking as if nothing had happened, "But, you came at me with the full intension of killing me. How do I say this…I guess I'm starting to like you guys." Naruto looked at Sakura with a boastful expression.

"All right, get ready." Sen and the others crouched. "And…" Sen dug her hand into her weapon pouch.

"Start!"

The world was a blur as Sen practically flew into the nearest tree, kunai in hand.

* * *

Sakura slid under a bush, not caring about any type in particular.

_As long as I'm far away from Sen…_

Sakura quickly glanced around. When she saw no signs of the scary witch, she relaxed a little.

"Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively." Kakashi announced.

He scanned the area with his one visible eye. Kakashi's eye stopped on the bush that Sakura was hiding under. She tensed again and held her breath.

Kakashi became distracted by a soft pat and looked away.

Sakura exhaled, grateful of the distraction.

But when she saw what had distracted Kakashi, she was more disgusted then grateful.

Naruto still hadn't moved from his spot in front of Kakashi. He stood there, arms crossed, with that stupid grin of his.

_Idiot._

_

* * *

_

Sen couldn't believe her eyes.

Naruto still stood in front of Kakashi.

_What the hell is he thinking?_

"You and me, right now, fair and square!"

Sen couldn't stick around and watch. Although the death of Naruto seemed pleasing to her, he hadn't exactly done anything to piss her off. Also, once he was dead Kakashi would look around the area for the remaining group and Sen needed time to set some traps.

She waited in the tree until Kakashi, to her surprise, was distracted with multiple Naruto shadow clones before she made her escape into the dense forest.

* * *

Sen smiled to herself once she was satisfied that the multiple paper bombs she had strategically hidden were camouflaged well enough under the dirt.

Slapping her hands together to get rid of the dirt, Sen scanned the forest for a good hiding place.

She was just about to jump into a tree when she heard Sakura's piercing scream break the silence she was smugly enjoying.

The scream came from the west and judging the volume of it, she was close by.

Sen bit into a nail.

_Should she try and help her?_

Being stuck with her was, after all, probably better than being alone with "the revenger" as her only teammate (assuming Naruto was dead, which she did). But Sen would probably end up killing Sakura herself because there would definitely be repeats of this morning's events and she didn't know if she could control herself next time.

She decided to let Kakashi do the dirty work for her and blew the fan girl off.

Crouching on a limb of a tree, Sen waited, counting on Kakashi to finish off Sakura then stumble into her traps.

What she didn't count on was another agonizing scream. This time belonging to Sasuke.

Despite her better judgment that it was probably a trap to lure her out of hiding, Sen jumped from the tree limb and blindly raced in the direction the scream had erupted from.

She didn't know why she wanted to help him, didn't want to think about why, it was just a natural reaction to save her comrade. But why hadn't she done the same thing when Sakura screamed? Was it because it was already too late for her and Sakura to ever get along as friends?

_Was it maybe that she actually didn't hate her entire team after all?_

Sen shook her head and reminded herself not to think about why.

Even though she had blown off Sakura before, Sen couldn't help but wonder if it was too late to also save the Pinkette.

Sen stopped running.

This was _Sakura_ she was talking about. _Sakura_, the annoying fan girl with the annoying crush that she constantly broadcasted to the world, whether they cared or not.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized what she was doing. She was risking her safety to try and save the Uchiha bastard and his annoying groupie, who had done _nothing_ but annoy her since she first signed up for this stupid academy. She knew it was a trap of Kakashi's and she had no other motives to save them, so the question was, _why bother?_

She had perfectly good traps that she left back at her secret spot, which probably wasn't so secret anymore, and she was out here saving people she didn't like. _What the hell_.

Sen made a decision to turn back and started walking in the direction she came.

"Sen?" She had been spotted.

She whipped around to find Sasuke, erm, Sasuke's head, looking at her from about twenty feet away.

* * *

He had been there the whole time watching Sen have some kind of internal struggle about who knows what. Kakashi had pulled his body underground in some kind of earth-style-jutsu and Sasuke was undoubtedly stuck; his head just above the surface.

His eyes widened as she eyed him curiously and slowly approached him. She crouched down in front of his head and poked him in the temple as to see if this was some kind of genjutsu illusion.

Sasuke glared at her.

Nope. This was as real as real could get.

"Wha…" Sen started. They looked at each other for a moment. Sen finally broke eye contact and shook her head, pulling out a kunai.

"Wait!" He gasped. Sen rolled her eyes.

"I'll try to do this as painlessly as possible, I promise." There was some hint of humor in her voice that led Sasuke on into thinking she was joking. Even so, he closed his eyes as Sen raised her arm to strike, and waited for the end.

Or, what he thought was the end. Instead of pain, he felt wind rush past his cheek as Sen pierced the ground with the deadly weapon.

Sasuke cautiously opened his eyes. She was digging him out.

A couple of whooshes later and Sasuke was starting to feel gentle oxygen tickle his neck.

Sen sighed, frustrated, for this was taking way too long. Noon would soon arrive without an invitation and crash their party, condemning them all back to the academy without the retrieval of one of the bells. This sucked.

"This is taking way too long." Sasuke stated.

Sen looked at him with angry eyes. Sasuke immediately regretted saying anything.

"At least I'm actually trying to help you, you ungrateful bastard!" Sasuke just looked at her.

Sen scoffed and bit into one of her nails, starring Sasuke down the entire time. Sasuke starred back.

A nearby bush shook, breaking his focus. Sasuke and Sen looked up from there stare-down to find Sakura gaping at them, frozen in mid-step.

_Dammit._

"H-hey Sakura…" Sakura's eyes widened as he spoke. She looked back and forth between the kunai in Sen's hand and Sasuke's talking head.

Sakura took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs,

"SEN CUT OFF SASUKE'S HEAD BECAUSE SHE GOT MAD AT HIM AND NOW HIS HEAD IS TALKING!" Sakura's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body went limp, falling onto her back with a loud thud.

"Fuck. Every ninja in this forest probably knows where we are now, thanks to loud mouth over there." Sen was right. Sasuke needed to escape, and fast.

"This is probably going to hurt a little..." Sen mumbled to herself and stood. Sasuke eyes her curiously. She then bit her thumb, making a small stream of red ooze out. Grimacing a bit, she made hand signs so fast that Sasuke couldn't tell what she was doing, but he feared the worst, knowing her.

Sen put her hand on the wet grass and yelled, "Summoning-jutsu!" Sasuke's eyes widened. No Genin was supposed to be able to perform a summoning jutsu. It was way too advanced. This girl continued to surprise him more and more.

There was a loud crack and a puff of smoke. Sasuke squinted through the haze trying to see what animal she had summoned. As the smoke cleared, a huge scaly belly came into view.

Slowly, Sasuke's eyes shifted up until they practically rolled in the back of his head. He saw a pink tongue flicker.

It was a snake.

* * *

Sen's hair was being whipped around by the breeze as she stood on the head of a snake, yes, a snake, high above the ground. She took a breath of fresh air and looked around at the never ending rows of trees. She smiled.

"Nezumi," Sen announced the snake's ironic name. "Long time no see."

"You really called me for this, Sen?" Nezumi asked in his low serpent drone. "Couldn't you have just freed your boyfriend without my help?" Sen's face turned crimson.

"He's not my boyfriend and no, I couldn't dig him out." Sen corrected her old friend with a snap.

The serpent chuckled. Sen rolled her eyes.

"If you're done laughing, would you please kindly dig him out with your tongue?" Sen was fed up with the wise snake's jokes.

"Fine, fine. It's not like I had anything else to do." Nezumi muttered sarcastically. Sen scoffed.

The serpent began lazily lowering its head. Wind rushed all around Sen, blowing her hair up in an unnatural way. She felt as if she was shrinking as the densely packed trees grew taller and taller all around them, caging her.

Nezumi paused for Sen to jump off before his skilled tongue pierced into the ground and pulled up a flustered Sasuke and a chunk of earth.

Sliding the boy off his tongue, the snake gagged and muttered something like, "The things I do for her…"

Sen patted under the snake's chin and whispered, "Thank you…Nezumi…"

The snake grunted a reply and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Sasuke was silent as Sen helped him out of the slimy pile of earth the snake had dug up.

_What. The. Fuck._

As if she could read his mind, Sen looked at Sasuke and rolled her eyes. (Maybe it was actually because he still hadn't shut his shocked mouth.)

She smirked then turned her back to him.

Sen walked, no _pranced_ over to Sakura's limp body. Grabbing a stick she poked Sakura's head from a remotely safe distance. Sasuke walked up behind her and stepped over Sakura's legs, then crouched down by her head.

He felt like he should say something to break the silence. Anything. After much contemplation, he settled on the burning question that was just twitching to be answered.

"So uhm…" He began.

Sen looked up from her stick and quirked an eyebrow.

Just as Sasuke opened his mouth to ask how she could complete a summoning jutsu, Sakura stirred. Her jade eyes opened and blinked a few times before they opened wide and a girlish smile found its way on her lips.

"SASUKE! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Sakura gasped, followed by several more desperate breaths as she latched her arms around Sasuke's neck in a death lock.

"H-hey! Let go of me! Cut it out!" Sasuke shoved her off, just as Sen stood up with a disgusted frown playing at the corners of her lips.

She looked down at them and sneered, "If you two lovebirds aren't done, I'll gladly leave. I've wasted way too much of my already limited time saving you guys." Sen let out an exasperated sigh, then threw her hands in the air. "I haven't even seen Kakashi yet, thanks to you idiots!" Sasuke grimaced.

"You know I don't like her like that, and you didn't have to play hero and come crashing through the trees to save us!" Yes, Sasuke had seen the whole thing.

Sen's eyes narrowed at his harsh words. "You're welcome." Her voice was like ice. Sasuke narrowed his own eyes and glared at her.

Just then a loud ringing echoed through the woods, making birds rise noisily from the trees. It was noon and none of them had a bell.

They had failed the mission.

"Shit." Sen cursed under her breath. She turned and stalked out of the woods, her long sweep of dark hair swishing back in forth with each angry step.

"What's with her?" Sakura questioned, obviously trying to act casual, as if nothing had happened. As if the bell hadn't gone off or a giant snake hadn't appeared or only moments ago, or Sasuke wasn't rooted in the soil like the many, _many, _trees in this forest. He silently loathed Sakura's ability to live in the moment, something he had never been able to do, and never would.

Sasuke shook his head at her and muttered, "Clueless," then walked towards where this stupid mission and his life as ninja had first begun, and now would end, all the while with Sakura uselessly scrambling to catch up from behind him.


	4. Chance

_OMG I'M SOSOSO SORRY! I't's been like two weeks sense I've updated? I kinda got all caught up in homework and stuff and I kept having to put off writing! _

_Heh..._

_*Runs away from the pitchforks and torches*  
_

_Anyways, thank you sososo much to the following people for reviewing/adding my story on alerts/favorties:_

.loveable.95

LDub

AnimeLover5125

Shifuni

kitsumeshadow

_Yup! I love those people! :)_

_Here's my disclaimer! Ok, well I don't exactly own Naruto (But if I did...MUAHAHAHAHAHA!) But I do own my character Sen and her life story. (Which I am slowly but surely revealing) _

_Well Here's chapter four! It's a little long! Enjoy! :DDDDDD  
_

* * *

Squad seven, well, three-fourths of squad seven, sat slumped on the ground. Naruto was tied to a post and grumbling to himself about fairness. Everyone, except Sen of course, because the last thing on her mind was food, was starving.

_How about failure with a side of embarrassment?_

Kakashi stood in front of them with those emotionless eyes of his staring them down. Sen felt ashamed. Not only was she being sent back to the academy, but she had said some pretty bold things to Kakashi and her teammates earlier. She could feel Sakura's "I told you so!" energy pulsing around, straining for her attention, like unwanted bugs.

"Uh oh, stomachs grumbling." Sen glared up at Kakashi. "Well, that's too bad."

Sen kicked the three box lunches in front of her. She really didn't need this from Kakashi.

Kakashi smirked at her through his mask.

"Oh, and by the way, about this exercise, I've decided I won't send any of you back to the academy." Sen bit into a nail. This had to be a lie. There had to be some sort of catch like, "I won't send any of you back to the academy if you all walk around naked for a day." Something stupid like that.

"What?" Sakura started. "All I did was faint and fall over, does that count for something?" In Sen's hate book, maybe.

"Hn." Why did Sen save Sasuke again? Oh yeah, she's an idiot.

"So, so that's means, that means all four of us…" Naruto flailed his legs and repeated himself before giving up on making a complete sentence and just grinning like an idiot.

Sakura started to annoyingly jump up in down and scream. She stopped in mid jump when her eyes glanced towards Sen's death glare and instead of jumping back up, she tripped on her feet. Catching herself on Sasuke's shoulder, she hesitated a bit before, thankfully, sitting back down.

Sen smirked. "Whoa there Sakura, I wouldn't want you to faint again." Sakura glared at Sen. Her face was as pink, if not pinker, than her hair.

"For your information, Sen, I tripped." Sakura stuck her nose in the air.

_This was just way too easy,_ Sen thought.

"Oh of course, because air _is_ pretty tricky to walk through without falling. My mistake!" Sen spat sarcastically.

Sakura whipped her head back around and opened her mouth to say something, but whatever petty response she had come up with was interrupted by Kakashi's monotone voice.

"Okay, that's enough. Yes, all four of you are being dropped from the program. Permanently." Naruto stopped grinning. Sen's suspicions were now confirmed. There was indeed a catch, a horrible, nasty catch.

"Dah!" Naruto was beside himself. "Drop us from the program? That means we can never become ninja! You said if we didn't get the bells we would be sent back to the academy! You can't just change your mind and kick us out! Why would you do that?" Naruto slurred, making his words barely comprehendible.

Kakashi rolled his eye like the answer was obvious.

"Because you don't think like ninja. You think like little kids." Sen was appalled. Little kids don't constantly day dream about murder, they think about unicorns and puppies. Kakashi was wrong.

Sasuke made it a point to announce his disagreement, because he jumped up and charged towards Kakashi, making Sakura gasp.

There was a giant dust cloud that billowed up from the ground. Sen and the others strained their eyes to see the outcome.

When the haze finally cleared, there sat a triumphant Kakashi squishing the young avenger with his large derrière. As Sen expected.

"And you, you think it's all about you." Kakashi stated calmly.

"LET SASUKE GO! YOU CAN'T STEP ON HIM LIKE HE'S SOME BUG!" Sakura screeched, earning a glare from the squished ninja and the squisher himself.

Sasuke made a pained sound before Kakashi stated bluntly, "You don't know what it means to be ninja." Sen was offended. "You think it's a game, huh? Why did you think we put you on squads? Did you ever consider that?"

"I-I don't know what you mean…" Naruto mumbled, confused.

"You never even guessed what this exercise was about, not even close." Sen did. It was all making even more sense to her.

"What it's about?" Sen swore Naruto's brain was made of ramen.

"Yes, that determined whether you pass or fail."

"B-but I wanted to ask you that from the very beginning…" Sakura said defensively.

Sen couldn't take anymore of this stupidity. "Use your head, _baka_." Sakura turned towards her. "Four people on a squad; why do you think he would do that?"

_Was the answer still unclear to them?_

"AH! How are we supposed to know why he picked four people to be on a squad, we didn't make the rules!" Naruto flailed his legs again.

"It's so basic…if Sen figured it out, you other three really are dumber than you look." Sen was horrified at his comment.

"Excuse me, _teme_?" Kakashi ignored her.

"Teamwork." Was all he said without even looking the fuming ninja's way.

_Well no fricken duh!_

"Just working together, is that what you mean?" Uhm, isn't that the definition of teamwork? Wow, Sakura sure scared Sen sometimes.

"That's what I mean. Well, it's too late now. If all four of you had gotten over your petty quarrels and come at me as a team, you might have been able to take the bells."

"Wait a minute…you set it up with only three bells but only four people. That's not fair" Sen rolled her eyes at Sakura and chose to speak once again.

"That way we would be pitted against each other. Kakashi wanted to see if we could get over the fact that one person would be sent back to the academy and help each other out anyways." Simple.

Kakashi seemed to become very annoyed with her constant interruptions.

"Sen, you let your hatred for Sakura get in the way of saving her when she cried out for help. But for some reason, when Sasuke did too, you charged into the forest and forgot all about the paper bombs you had set. Then after thinking it through, you decided to turn around and leave, only to be caught by Sasuke when you were trying to abandon them. You seem to have an explanation for everything; do you have one for that?" Sen blushed and looked down. She said nothing.

"That's what I thought." Kakashi turned his attention from Sen to Sakura, who gave a small yelp and swallowed hard. "And you, Sakura. You obsessed over Sasuke who was gone and didn't even think to help Naruto when he was right in front of you. Naruto, you do everything by yourself. _Everything_."

Kakashi took a minute to shove his foot harder down on Sasuke's head who was still pinned to the earth.

"And you, Sasuke. You thought the others were so far beneath you they were worthless. How arrogant. You then ended up needing someone's help after all when Sen had to help get you out of my head-hunter jutsu. You all put yourselves before the squad, which no real shinobi would do. This could not only lead to failure, but death. For example," Kakashi pulled out a kunai and held it to Sasuke's throat.

"Sakura, Kill Naruto and Sen, or Sasuke dies." Naruto gasped.

_As if that would ever happen_, Sen thought.

"That's what happens on a mission." Kakashi pulled the kunai away. Sasuke looked relieved.

"Oh boy, that was really scary." Sakura spoke her thoughts out loud.

"If the enemy takes a hostage, then you have an impossible choice." Kakashi got off of Sasuke and turned his back to the group. "Someone ends up dead. On every mission your life is on the line." Sasuke let out a defeated sigh and dropped his head to the ground. Sen thought the way he just gave up and the way he was slumped on the ground looked…depressing…

Once again acting against her better judgment, Sen quickly walked over to Sasuke and held out a hand. Sasuke, who was now sitting in an upright position, looked up at her with a baffled expression which turned into a glare. Nonetheless, he still took her hand and allowed himself to be helped up. Sakura, trying to one-up Sen, also ran over to him and tried to help him up, even though he was already standing by then.

"Hn." Sasuke pulled away from Sakura's grabby hands and shoved his own in his pockets. He turned and walked back to a tied up Naruto without saying a word. Sen guessed that was a thank you of some sort, so she let it slide, too tired to get into another useless fight. She and Sakura walked back to the posts, Sen slightly in front of an embarrassed Sakura.

Sen stopped walking and turned around. Kakashi was standing in front of the K.I.A. Rock. He gently touched the many engraved names and sighed.

"The names on this stone are all ninja who are considered heroes. They are all members of the K.I.A. Have you ever looked at it? Some of my closest friends' names are on this stone." Kakashi stated flatly, a hint of remorse in his usually monotone voice.

"That's it!" Naruto yelled. "I know what I want now! Some day my name is going to be on that stone and everyone will look up to me, believe it!" Sen took pity on the clueless ninja.

"Naruto…all of those ninja died…K.I.A. stands for 'killed in action'." Sen explained softly for the first time since she met him.

Naruto's face fell.

Sen held back tears as she walked up next to Kakashi and scanned the carefully chiseled ever-growing list of names until her eyes stopped on that familiar name she held so dearly to her heart.

_Daichi Tatsuki_

It was her grandfather's name, and the only man that had ever been there long enough for her to look up to; a male role model. He had taken the place of her father, who had not only abandoned her and her mother, but was no ninja to look up to.

Sen hated her father, especially for what he had done to her. All the lies he had fed her and she had once believed to be true, were only selfish tales he had thought up to get her to meet him.

No, he was no role model.

Not even close.

Sen's thoughts were interrupted by a hand that had been placed on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Kakashi starring down at her. Sen immediately became infuriated and shrugged the kind gesture off. She turned and stalked back to the group, looking down so her bangs would cover her tear-stricken face. She didn't want his pity, or anyone else's for that matter. She would never let anyone get close to her again, for they would surely only end up hurting her. Sen's trust was something no one could ever earn; not again.

Kakashi sighed sadly and turned back around. "Well, I've decided to give you all a second chance. But, I'm going to make it much harder. You'll have only three hours to get a bell, so eat lunch now for strength. You'll need it." He turned around to leave. "Oh, and Naruto doesn't get any lunch, because he broke the rules. If I catch any of you giving food to him, the will all be immediately removed from the program. That's all." Naruto gave a grunt of protest as Kakashi jumped into the trees.

* * *

Although his face didn't show it, Sasuke felt that the box lunch full of rice, and some other crap that was unidentifiable, was the best thing he had ever tasted. _Ever._

He took another bite and held in a groan of happiness, completely lost in his bite of lukewarm rice.

His brief moment of pleasure was interrupted by Naruto's stomach grumbling. Sasuke glanced, irritated, at the tied up blonde to his right.

"This is no big deal. I can do this for days, for weeks, believe it!" Naruto's confident declaration was then shattered by his stomach's impeccable timing. Sasuke sighed and thrust his bite of heaven towards the sulking boy. Naruto looked down at him, wide-eyed.

"Here." Sasuke sighed.

"Wh-what? Really?" Naruto asked, dumfounded.

_No, I'm kidding. This is all just a joke, because it's totally normal for me to make them._

Instead of saying what Sasuke really wanted to say, he simply looked away and shoved his meal a little closer.

"What! No Sasuke, you can't do that!" Sakura burst and then looked around quickly. "You heard what the Sensei said!"

"Kakashi's gone. We need to get those bells, and if Naruto is hungry it will affect our teamwork and ultimately affect the mission." Simple as that. It wasn't like Sasuke wasn't aware of the risk, he fully aware of it, he just felt it was the right thing to do.

_Oh great, now I have morals?_

Sasuke looked back up to Naruto. His eyes barely widened when he saw that Sakura had joined him in giving up their food to the clown.

"Here." Sakura stated in the same matter as Sasuke had.

"B-but those are your lunches!" Naruto protested, effectively hiding his appreciation.

"I'm on a diet…"

Sen snorted. Sakura glared at Sen then quickly added, "I mean, Sasuke doesn't eat as much as I do... Just hurry up and take it Naruto!"

Sasuke looked over at Sen who had said nothing, until her small snort, while they were eating. To no shock, Sen was sitting there, unmoving, as well as her untouched box lunch. Sasuke glared at the top of her head until she felt his eyes and looked up with a glare to match his own. She broke eye contact with a roll of her onyx eyes and an annoyed sigh.

She snatched the unopened meal and forced it onto Sakura's lap.

Sakura, not wanting to get into a fight when everyone was being so nice to each other, didn't complain about her sudden brashness and her lack of eating.

Naruto wasn't so smart.

"Hey, aren't you hungry, Sen?" Sen put her hands behind her head and fell on her back.

"No. I had a big breakfast." Sasuke was starting to see what Kakashi meant about them being stupid if Sen had figured out his test.

* * *

Sensing the change in air around her, Sen decided to explain.

"Did you actually think I would follow Kakashi's advice? This just shows how little you people know about me." And they didn't for a good reason.

"YOU CHEATER! THAT'S SO NOT FAIR!" Naruto yelled. Sen chuckled and swung a leg over her other extended one.

"I didn't cheat, and it's completely fair. You and everyone else could have just as easily ignored his advice and eaten this morning. But, I guess you weren't smart enough to see it was a trap." Sen snorted and added sarcastically, "And just when I was starting to like you guys." Directing that last comment more towards Sakura than anyone else.

_As if I would ever like her. _

But, to everyone's surprise, Sakura of all people blew off the insult and and ripped open the lunch's paper seal.

"Whatever."

"Oh, so Pepto _does_ have a mature side. Who knew?" Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at, in Sen's opinion, the perfect nickname for the pink-haired ninja.

Sakura turned her head slowly and showed off the scariest glare she could possibly muster, but when compared to the Uchiha's and Sen's, was like a unicorn smiling widely. In other words, the attempted glare was a fail.

"What did you just call me?" Sakura squeaked.

Sasuke, who was growing tired of their constant bickering, decided to finally speak.

"Hurry up and eat, Naruto; Kakashi could be back at any moment." Sen smirked at the annoyed Uchiha.

"Fine, pushy. But you're going to have to feed me though, because my hands are tied…" Sakura looked to Sen with a forced smile.

_Oh hell no._

"Don't look at me, Pepto. You're the one who's closest to him." She was awfully close…

Sakura, in realizing their proximity, lurched back a few inches and blushed scarlet.

"Oh, Whatever! This is a onetime thing Naruto, got it?"

"Clear as a bell, Sakura!" Sen let out a low chuckle at the irony of his simile.

Sakura ignored her and plucked a piece of rice with her chopsticks from the now cold meal and dropped it into Naruto's mouth. She opened her chopsticks for another ball, but a huge gust of wind caused her to lose her grip, and the food was blown across the training ground.

"YOU! YOU BROKE THE RULES!" Came Kakashi's usually monotoned voice from the stirred dust. He appeared and started doing hand signs that cause clouds to form above and produce lightning. "Any last words?"

Keeping her cool, Sen humorously raised her hand and waited to be called on.

"Yes?" Came Kakashi's irritated voice.

"You said we were a team, right?" She looked around at the others for support.

"Y-yeah! We gave him our food because the four of us are one!" Sakura added.

"Yeah! Believe it!" Naruto said, feeling the need to be apart in this.

"The four of you are one? Is that your excuse?" Kakashi challenged.

_Well, yes, it was. Do you like it?_

"YEAH!" Naruto said again, flailing his legs again.

The wind slowed down.

Kakashi smiled.

"You pass." Kakashi said, changing his tone completely.

"W-what?" Sakura looked at Kakashi like it was another trick.

"You. Pass." Kakashi repeated, this time more slowly.

"Huh?" Naruto titled his head to the side.

"You're the first quad to ever pass, because unlike them, you could think for yourselves. It is true that those who don't follow directions are scum. But those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." That was true on so many levels, Sen decided. She was beginning to like this guy again.

"I'm a ninja! A ninja ninja ninja!" Naruto shouted happily.

"Our first mission starts tomorrow. Let's go home." Sen almost laughed at the corniness.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe it. They had forgotten to untie him!

"This happens every time! You forgot to—" The ropes holding Naruto to the wooden post suddenly fell to the ground with Naruto tumbling after them.

_Oof!_

Naruto sat up and rubbed head.

"Hey! What was that—" Sen walked around him and began following the others, which effectively silenced him again. She had cut him loose.

* * *

Sen paused and turned her head slightly. She smirked at his dumbfounded expression and cooly walked after the others.

The knucklehead was, after all, part of her team.


	5. First Battle?

_Oh my gosh you guys...I'm SOSOSOSOSOSOSO SORRY! I haven't updated in...85 days? Aha yus, I counted...BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT! I feel terrible! I kept putting it off and school is evil and then I got into this totally awesome show Soul Eater...heh...Soul is a sexy albino XD SOUL AND MAKA FOREVERRR! Ahem...anyways, I owe you guys something...how about next chapter I put in a few sasksen moments, eh? But for some reason Fanfiction wouldn't let me upload DX...sooooo...that's why it took so long!  
_

_This chapter is short and nothing really goes on in it...hmm. Oh, And I feel the need to tell everyone this, In the last chapter my computer screwed up and deleted some dialogue and half of __psychotic . but .loveable.95 's name (which is why, in order for it to not do it again, I've put spaces in between! YUS!) when I was thanking her for adding my story to alerts (it really does make my day, ya know.) Soooo, if you were wondering why in my story it seemed weird at one part, that's why. I would post the missing dialogue, but...meh. Just let me know if you want it and I'll put it up or something. Maybe...and now I'm drabbling..._

_OK! Time to Thank everyone for commenting/alerting/favoritinggg!_

_everydayhaterXD14_

_Renrinrin_

_CrimsonAkane (Feel better soon!)_

_HomeSkillitBiscuit.93_

_Shifuni_

_THANK YOOOOOOOOU!_

_(If I accidentally forgot to put your name, tell me. I'll thank in next one! Sorry if it happened!)  
_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...I just write stories about his best friend, Sasuke. Ya know, when you think about it, it is pretty creepy to write stories about people...without their knowledge...heh. OH! But I do own Sen and her life story and yeah.  
_

_Ok, well here's the next chapter! Enjoy my pretties..._

* * *

There was a loud screech in Sen's ear that seemed to bounce around in her head.

"The fuc—"Sen gave her head a shake to clear the stars away then quickly adjusted her earpiece. She crouched back into the itchy bush she was currently hiding behind.

Suddenly there was another crackle, this one much quieter than the first, and Kakashi's voice invaded her eardrums.

"Sen, watch your language." Sen stuck out her tongue but quickly realized that there was no one there to see her insult and slipped the long appendage back into her mouth, a scowl across her pale face.

"Whatever. Sen, I'm at point D." She quickly mumbled.

"Sasuke, I'm at point B."

"Sakura, I'm at point C."

There was a short pause before the ear bud crackled, racking Sen's hearing once again. An equally annoying voice took over.

"Naruto, I'm at point A. Believe it!"

"You're slow, Naruto," Kakashi stated. "Okay, squad seven…huh?" Kakashi went off the air. "The target has moved! Follow it!" Sen looked to her right to see a blur of brown shoot across the clearing. She jumped into another bush that was closer to the target's new location.

"Over there…" Naruto stated out of nowhere.

Sen flinched, then rolled her eyes.

_Damn ninjas…_

She threw her back against a tree, closing in on the target. The others copied her motion as they waited for Kakashi's signal.

"What's your distance from the target?" Kakashi questioned.

"Five meters," Naruto answered. "I'm ready, just give the signal." Sen looked over at Naruto, who was impatiently bouncing up and down. He returned the stare to Sen once he felt her eyes on him. Sen realized she had been staring and quickly flashed him the most genuine smile she could possibly muster, which probably ended up looking like a snake smiling at a small orange puppy. Naruto's eyes widened and he smiled back awkwardly. Surprising enough, Naruto was the only one Sen actually got along with in the dysfunctional team called squad seven.

"I'm ready, too," Sasuke grunted.

"So am I!" Sakura declared almost too loudly.

"Same here," Sen mumbled half-heartedly.

"All right, on my signal…" Kakashi paused so his students could make sure they were absolutely ready. "Okay…NOW!"

Squad seven shot out from their tree hiding places and leaped towards the target.

Naruto reached the cat first, and grabbed it around its fuzzy, brown waist.

"Mroowwwwwwwwww!" The cat screeched, clawing and straining to be set free.

"I got him, I got him!" The cat blindly hissed and clawed at the air until Naruto's arms loosened enough for it to flip around and shred his surprised face to smithereens.

"Gahhhhh!" Naruto screamed, holding the cat in mid-air to get out of the dangerous claws' way. The cat flailed with renewed effort, screeching hysterically.

"Can you verify your location?" Kakashi's slightly muffled voice sounded so business-like.

Sasuke was the one to answer. "Affirmative, we have a positive ID."

"Right. Lost pet, Torah, captured."

Sen sighed and felt the relief wash over her. This lame mission was _finally _completed. She let her legs fall limp and curl up under her.

Naruto was not as relieved. In fact, far from it.

He dogged yet another series of deadly swipes, then tore the ear bud from his ear and screamed into it, "CAN'T WE GET A BETTER MISSION THAN THIS? _I HATE CATS_!"

Sen barely flung the communicator out in time, narrowly escaping her ear's certain doom. She glared daggers over at Naruto, whose eyes went wide, then at the struggling cat that had caused him to yell and almost leave her permanently deaf in one ear. The cat miraculously stopped frantically scratching Naruto and hid under his orange sleeve to escape Sen's fear-striking glare. Sen smiled evilly and bit into a nail.

Squad seven just looked at her.

Sen released the nail she was victoriously biting, then put on the most confused look she could possibly muster. She looked at them with wide, innocent eyes.

"What? I happen to like my left ear, thank you."

"…You're scary, ya know that?" Naruto shuddered.

Sen smirked evilly at him. "Trust me, you have no idea."

* * *

Sen watched with a victorious grin that could only form from a tremendous accomplishment, such as this occasion, as the demon cat called "Torah" (ironically named after a Jewish holy book) was being smothered in a hug by her…dare she say it…pompous, fat, on the larger side…owner.

"Oh, my baby! My poor, poor precious Torah! Did you miss Mommy? Did you? Oooooh!"

Sen rolled her eyes.

Naruto was cackling. "Stupid cat! He deserves to be squished!"

"No wonder he ran away…" Sakura mumbled.

"Who wouldn't, with an owner like that…" Sen agreed, while pointing a lazy finger towards the fat…wait, _agreed_? Sen's eyes widened as she realized what she had just done. She had agreed, with…_Sakura_… thus concluding to Sakura and her teammates that there was hope in them becoming friends, even though that would _never, EVER_ happen, not if Sen had anything to do with it. She felt squad seven's eyes on her fidgeting form, and struggled to keep her cool.

_Maybe they hadn't heard..._ She shifted her black orbs over to their,_ sigh, _gaping mouths_. Nope. They're looking at me. _Sen confirmed.

"What?" Sen glared at them.

"Ahem…" Came the Hokage's gruff voice. Sen was thankful for the distraction.

"Squad seven's next assignment…" He quickly scanned the paper. "There are several tasks you can take up. Among them being, babysitting the chief counselor's three-year-old, helping his wife to do the shopping, digging up potatoes and uh…" Naruto interrupted the unappealing list.

"NO, NO, NO! Those are all baby missions! I want a _real_ mission!" Despite the fact that he just interrupted the freaking Hokage, spat all over his desk, and Iruka-Sensei was now turning red, Sen had to agree with him. Babysitting wasn't really her thing… way too much hair-pulling and drool.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Sen knew this was coming…"YOU'RE JUST A SIMPLE GENIN WITH NO EXPERIENCE! YOU HAVE TO WORK YOURSELF UP TO BE ABLE TO PREFORM HARDER MISSIONS JUST LIKE _EVERYONE ELSE_!" Iruka fumed.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? BABYSITTING ISN'T A MISSION; IT'S JUST A STUPI… AHHH!" Kakashi ended Naruto's speech effectively with a bop to the top of his blonde-spiked head.

"Will you shut up?" Kakashi droned. Naruto wailed and shot upright, furiously rubbing his head.

"Naruto," The Hokage scolded, "It seems you don't understand why you have been given these tasks." Naruto stopped rubbing his aching skull and aimed his puzzled ocean orbs at the Hokage. "Listen, many different types of requests come into this village every day. From babysitting to assassination, these requests are carefully recorded and put into four different ranks, then…"

_Blah, blah, blah._ Sen tuned out the Hokage's rambling while Naruto began telling squad seven about some kind of ramen he ate the other day. Sen tuned that out, too. She already knew the Hokage's speech, for it had been repeated in the academy by Iruka-sensei about a thousand times. In fact, Sen knew a lot of things. She just didn't want anyone to see her full potential, which is why, at the academy, she made sure to only barely pass on all of the tests and exams Iruka-sensei had given them. Even though it had been mind-numbingly hard to not at least ace one test with over-exaggerated flying colors, Sen knew by not doing so would be proven useful in the long-run. If people thought she wasn't smart, then they would underestimate her and let their guard down in battle. But, this otherwise brilliant plan had in fact come back to bite her in some ways…like Kakashi constantly calling her an idiot and making fun…

"Silence!" Sen snapped out of her thoughts and back to reality. Naruto stopped rambling about ramen and smiled sheepishly at the furious Hokage.

"Oh…sorry," Kakashi guiltily rubbed his head. All of squad seven had apparently also tuned him out.

"Off the soap-box yet, old man?" The Hokage sent lasers towards a smugly-grinning Sen.

"Ugh! You always lecture me like you're my Granddad or something! But I'm not the little pest that used to pull pranks all the time! I'm a ninja now and I want a _real_ ninja mission!" Naruto finished his tantrum and furiously crossed his arms with an indignant, "Hmmph!"

What Sen had thought would be another week's worth of lame missions (_woohoo_) when the Hokage opened his mouth to reply was actually his gruff smoker-laugh. He took a drag on his ever-burning pipe and said humorously, "Naruto wants us to know that he's not a pest; he's a former pest, and he wants a mission," He leaned back into his chair, which complained loudly with a groan, and squinted his wrinkled, yet lively eyes with his genuine…smile? "So be it."

_Huh?_

Sen snapped her head at Sasuke who had accidently let a gasp escape. Even he was surprised? I guess who wouldn't be. Had Naruto's whining really gotten him somewhere?

"Since you're so determined, I'm going to give you a C-rank mission," He took another long drag on his pipe before continuing. "You'll be body guards on a journey."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Really? Who? WHO? Is it a princess or an important counselor?"

The Hokage flashed his crinkly smile again at Naruto's childish reaction. "Be patient, Naruto. I'll bring him in now. Send in our visitor!"

There were shuffling footsteps that were barely audible that sounded like someone with a limp was struggling down the hall. Squad seven turned as the mystery person came to a halt outside the door. There was a loud groan and the door swung open. An obviously drunk old man staggered into the tiny, already cramped room.

"What the—a bunch of little snot-nosed kids?" The old man took a long swig of alcohol from the poop-brown colored bottle he was smuggling around with him.

Sen's eyes turned to slits.

The drunk let a scratchy sigh emit from his wrinkled lips and leaned his whole weight on the door frame. Sen swore she could hear his joints, bones, basically his whole body, groan in protest from the sudden shift in gravity pulling down on his frail form.

"And you—the little one with the idiotic look on your face. Do you really think I would, or anyone on that, believe _you're_ a ninja?"

The little one with the idiotic look on his face, Naruto, only laughed and asked dumbly, "Who's the little one with the idiotic look on his face?" Squad seven shifted next to him and looked down. Naruto looked up at them. He gave a furious 'hmmph!' and Kakashi barely grabbed him in time before he ripped off the intoxicated grandpa's face.

"I'LL DEMOLISH YOU!"

"You can't demolish the client Naruto, it doesn't work that way," Kakashi droned.

Sen suddenly got a smug look on her face as she got a _HILARIOUS_ idea, at least in her opinion. Not knowing where this sudden impulse came from, she chose to act on it anyway, because she was just bad-ass like that. She stretched out her arm, and with a small giggle, jabbed her finger into Naruto's orange side. He yelped and leapt into the air, arms and legs flailing, almost smacking off the annoyed look plastered on Sasuke's face. Sasuke glared at her, and Sen smirked like, _oh yeah, that was totally supposed to happen…eheheheheh_…Sen didn't really intend for that to happen, but she accepted the little plus on her random impulse to jab Naruto's side as a good thing.

So she wasn't complaining.

Naruto landed on his feet with loud thud and spun around to glare at Sen's sheepish smile. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Sen didn't answer, but instead stuck her tongue out a little, careful not to show the whole thing. When Naruto's face reddened even more, she burst out laughing. Clutching her heaving chest, she decided, even though it was totally out of character for her, it felt good to laugh; she hadn't in so long.

"Nothing it's just…you're so cute!" Sen burst into another fit of laughter, and gave up on wiping the tears out of her eyes when Naruto's face blushed Gaara's hair, instigating a fresh batch.

* * *

"Hmph. I didn't know you were even capable of saying the word 'cute,'" Sakura smirked, staring at Sen's shaking form and waiting for retaliation.

To everyone's surprise, especially Sakura's, Sen just rolled her dark eyes and said…cheerfully, "Oh come on, let me have my fun!"

"Please don't pick now to have an actual pleasant personality…we have a mission, Sen," Sen stopped her contagious giggling and narrowed her black lasers at Kakashi.

"I think you already know what I'm going to say, or in this case, _make fun of," _Sen spat, saying 'make fun of' in a monotone voice.

"Oh, get on with it!" The old man gave a loud hiccup. Sen's face instantly turned serious again, to Sakura's relief.

"Sorry sir, that was out of place. Would you care to make fun of them instead?" Sen flashed her pearly whites, making Sakura's stomach churn. She really was scary…

"ENOUGH! I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder, and I must get back to my country. I'm building a bridge there that will change our world, and I expect you to get me there safely, even if it means giving up your own lives."

Sakura gulped, as she felt slightly alarmed at that last statement…no, what would she possibly have to worry about? This was, after all, only a C-ranked mission…

* * *

_OOOOOH CLIFFY! Mkayy, before I go, did you catch them? Did you? Did you notice the little Easter eggs about Sen? Eheheheh... :D_

_Review! If you're also a writer you can understand how much it makes my day!_


	6. Accident

_Well, It's been a super long time since I've updated. Like, the whole summer plus two months. _

_I am sorry. _

_And if you are still here, I would love for you to read this chapter, as this is my favorite chapter so far._

_I have read through it countless times and edited and then re-edited it because this was such a hard chapter for me to do. A lot goes on in it. And that means I'll have to re-read it again to make sure I tie up all loose ends from this chapter. My life is so hard. So I hope you enjoy it, even though its length is rather short...sorry, you honestly deserve better._

_**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto. Just Sen and her story.**_

_Thank you to the following people who have reviwed/added my story to their alerts and/or favorites:_

_Im-A-Fan-Of-DBZ_

_barbiefairy96_

_TeamWorkIsKey (her lovely review inspired me to write another chapter, so all of you better be thanking her for getting me out of my "no one likes my story!" funk. thank you~)_

_MCRDanime_

_Shifuni _

_Renrinrin_

_Thank you! *bows head*_

* * *

Naruto was definitely in Sen's personal space.

She stalked forward, incensed, with her customary crease in between her dark eyebrows.

"Sen! Hey Sen! SEEEENNNNNNN!" They had literally just started walking when this basket case of a ninja had decided on pestering her.

"What." Sen calmly replied. Just containing her anger in that one word made her insides feel as if they were ballooning in and out in a constricting pattern. Sen glared incredulously down at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes revealed a flash of confusion before the same goofy grin was again plastered upon his face. "Gosh…you really are bipolar, aren't you?" Naruto grinned wider. Sen's fist cracked.

" Naruto. Shut. Up." Sen's glare intensified at the offending boy. Naruto took a small step away from the fuming dark beauty, a little taken aback at her almost random mood swing.

Sen turned away from him, completely disgusted with the way things were turning out and her own inability to pull off her deeply-calculated plan.

Sen wondered why, out of all the years she had firmly kept on this dour mask, it had actually almost come off. Was she becoming a little too comfortable with her new-found teammates? Certainly not, she hated all of them. But then again, Sen couldn't hide the undeniable fact that she had cracked a little back at the Hokage's place…it's just that…Naruto just reminded her so much of…

er…

Sen couldn't quite place who he reminded her so much of. It was someone. Definitely a human. A human with the same intensely expressive eyes that showed so much yet showed so little. With the game goofy grin that left her with the feeling of euphoria, yet also pissed her off at the same time. With the same, oddly colored hair that existed without dye nor jutsu.

All of these fogged memories left Sen with the familiar haunting unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach… it was almost nostalgic even…déjà-vu. She had gone through this several times, remembering but not remembering to the point of insanity.

These days, it wasn't uncommon for Sen to lie awake, usually into the early hours of morning, trying to recall what couldn't be found and put her mind at ease. Some nights she wouldn't even sleep, as she would be too enthralled, too _obsessed_ with putting a name to the face that haunted her every being. Tossing and turning and _straining, _Sen never once gave up. Never _could_ give up.

She had definitely been closer this time, to remembering the one she had forgotten. It was right there, in the palm of her hand, so close to touch but too far to see.

But like so many other times and sleepless nights, the memory was indefinitely lost once again.

Sen shook her head and sighed in exasperation which caused a few strange looks from her teammates.

She could have practically touched the silhouette of the unnamed person who liked to jump in and out of her thoughts at the most inconvenient times. Sen decided that whoever it was would have liked the way this unfortunate series of events annoyed her so. They probably would have laughed maniacally at her struggle to remember them and failing each and every time. They were also most likely as sporadic and annoying as the memory itself.

It was a little unnerving to think about, as Sen usually wasn't one to judge before she actually interacts with another person such as herself (though she would usually come to the fast conclusion that they were incompatible in the first ten seconds) but something told her that these ideas of no-name's personality were more fragments of lost memories. How else could they have gotten into the depths of her mind, only to re-appear, with what little memory she currently possessed?

Sen curiously peeked up at Naruto through her long dark lashes to meet round and very blue puzzled orbs peeking back at her. Sen hoped that looking at his face again might trigger some memory, or at least a fragment of one, that would ultimately help her remember the one person she had once presumed was just a reoccurring case of déjà-vu.

"What's wrong with you, Sen?" Naruto looked up at her, his expression the quintessence of worry. She almost smiled at Naruto's innocent sincerity, but turned away again, deciding to not look back.

Trying to find something to settle her gaze upon, she then somehow found herself staring at the ominous Uchiha fan swishing back and forth with Sasuke's each calculated step. It seemed to hypnotize her, the swishing of the delicate fabric and the wash of the colors, making the fogged, unnamed person that much more untouchable and that much more forbidden. Sen frowned.

"Nothing." Sen replied earnestly, still in the middle of a slight frown from being in deep thought. She was trying to be as deliberately vague as possible in high hopes for him to catch the "leave it be" hint, as he was now doing the opposite of helping Sen recollect her memories. But this was Naruto and he was definitely sure to not let this go. It was worth a shot, at least.

"Sen…" _Here we go…_

"Naruto, just leave her alone. You're both annoying me." Sasuke said through gritted teeth, obviously irked by Naruto and Sen's mostly one-sided chatter.

To Sen's surprise, the blonde nuisance actually ceased in his attempt to make Sen respond with a legible answer.

Sen paused in her forced trudge. She openly stood, aghast, with her feet planted firmly on the lumped, dirt road; all the while glaring at the retreating fan hoping it would somehow catch aflame.

It wasn't that Sen hadn't liked the fact that Sasuke had gotten Naruto to finally shut up, she was actually quite pleased, she just hated the fact that it was _Sasuke _who had been the one to step into her blonde of a problem and ultimately solve it. Sen could have just as easily shut him up; she didn't need the stupid emo's help. She didn't need _anyone's_ help.

"Are you coming?" Sen snapped out of her thoughts to meet very annoyed and _very_ dark eyes glaring into her own. She hadn't even heard Sasuke's padded footsteps when he had turned around and walked back to stand before her. Sen's eyebrows creased into a frown. _Damn Uchiha…_

Sen brushed past Sasuke and stalked ahead. She glanced at the raven boy out of the corner of her eye as she did so.

Sen scolded herself as she watched Sasuke calmly turn around and begin to walk again, with a blank look that seemed like he was concentrating on something far off and unreachable.

_This entire encounter was childish._ She thought. _If I'm going to follow through with my plan, these really need to stop. _

When the Uchiha's deep eyes met her own, she realized she had been staring longer then what was necessary. She blushed, embarrassed that she had been caught, then glared to hide it.

_Stupid revenger._

* * *

_What was that? _Sasuke pondered to himself. Everything about Sen and her interactions with other human beings utterly confused him.

Sasuke recalled back to before they left the Hokage's place. Sen had acted so differently; it had kind of scared him. He thought she had finally snapped and gone into crazy-town-land. That would have definitely held him back from reaching his goal if he had to deal with an emotionally scarred ninja tagging along.

But emotionally scarred ninja or not, Sasuke was definitely interested in this girl. Not in the romantic sense, no, _definitely_ not, he was just…curious. He wondered what could have possibly made her behave the way she did; sometimes happy and teasing, other times the complete opposite. He also wondered why she acted so much like him when she wasn't being snarky or sarcastic. Could her entire clan have been annihilated, too? So far, Sasuke had heard nothing of the Tatsuki clan. The name didn't even sound remotely familiar in the slightest. But he had also not heard of another massacre other than his own clan's. So, if it wasn't that, then could something much worse have happened to her?

Sasuke scoffed silently at this. Nothing could possibly be worse than having your entire clan killed off. By your own brother, nonetheless.

So Sasuke put his ridiculous thoughts aside and settled on zoning on the tiny ripples in the gleaming, crystal-blue puddle up ahead.

* * *

Sen had been engrossed in a quiet nibbling session on a stubbed nail when they attacked. She had been entirely lost in thought, as her frustrations from before had continuously plagued her thoughts without waver.

It was her thumb nail, if she could accurately recall, that she had been letting her frustrations out upon. She remembered which nail it was only because one of the two ninjas had sliced the thin, pale skin open close to where she had been quietly nibbling with this claw thing he had on. And it had gone straight into her shoulder.

They had come out of nowhere; Sen hadn't even been able to detect their presence, as she was much too absorbed in the nonsense that was Sasuke and biting her nails, a habit she was way too fond of to get rid of just yet, even as much of a distraction it had slowly been proving to be.

Sen wouldn't be able to recall what happened in between her getting stabbed in the shoulder and the ground suddenly being extremely close to her face, if you were to ever have enough curiosity to ask her.

There was a sharp pain exploding all through her head. All thoughts from before were temporarily abandoned as Sen tried to force her frazzled mind to focus on the present. But to no avail could it have worked; she was already more than half gone without hope for return.

Sakura was shouting in her face to get up and Naruto was frantically running around shouting something about his hand and Sasuke was…he had a sad, _sad _look that flashed for a brief moment in his eyes. That had confused her even more. Not wanting to think about it too much, for she had already thought a little too much that day, she made a fast decision to just let the looming darkness envelope her hazy vision.

Everything felt slow and lazy. Colors melted together and urgent voices turned into incoherent humming.

Sen let herself relax into the buzzing concussion she felt creeping up from the back of her neck. It was warm. Red. _Reassuring_.

Sen was dying.

But she felt strangely okay with it.

Being in this black, dark abyss was, after all, better than being alive and having to breath, roam, and face the problems of her corrupted world.

It was a fitting end for her, Sen decided; the predator being killed by the prey. Because, to Sen, _everyone was her prey._ It was almost too ironic for Sen to bear, as she let out a final breathless laugh that was quiet and choked off at the end. She smiled weakly.

_See you in Hell, Father._

* * *

_See what I mean? A lot happens...I decided to venture a little out of the whole Naruto plot word-by-word because I thought it was a little boring. It was getting old to me, at least. So, I made poor Sen get hurt. And now she's probably dead. My bad. _

_REVIEW! :D_


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